


Moon Child: Nova

by Girlysword



Series: I have an anthropological fascination for twilight [1]
Category: Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: the exact nature of the tagged relationships is left ambiguous
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:35:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28676799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Girlysword/pseuds/Girlysword
Summary: Renesmee has left the nest to attend college, Jacob, of course, finds a job near campus and Seth tags along. Things seem to be going well, she's friends with her roommate and her roommate's twin brother, and her favorite teacher by far is her English teacher Prof. Friedrich Pelzman. But then something happens that throws everything out of control.
Relationships: Jacob Black/Renesmee Cullen, Seth Clearwater/Original Female Character(s)
Series: I have an anthropological fascination for twilight [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2101764





	1. A Plot Begins with Exposition

**Author's Note:**

> Nova: an explosion so bright it is as if a new star appears in the sky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I chose for Renesmee to attend Berry College in Rome, Georgia for a few reasons. 1) Her desire to establish independence led her to seek out a place as different from Forks, Washington as possible. 2) That school has the world's largest campus, many acres of nature that students have access for study and recreation. All that being said, I didn't go there and have never even been there so I have no idea what campus life is actually like. This whole fic is me writing about things I have no business writing about.

Byron Smith was hanging up a poster when the Old Hollywood ingenue walked in. After a moment of shocked confusion, she looked embarrassed and almost walked out of the dorm room backwards when Byron clarified, “This is my sister’s dorm.”  
“Oh!” she smiled; relief still tinged with a hint of embarrassment.  
“Byron Smith,” he shook her hand, “pleasure to meet you Greer Garson.”  
She frowned.  
“The actress?”  
“I know who Greer Garson is, but I—”  
“Just, you know, the red hair and the outfit—”  
“Oh!” she paused, “Wouldn’t Maureen O’Hara be the more obvious choice for an Old Hollywood redhead?”  
“Nah. Maureen O’Hara is feisty. You don’t strike me as feisty.”  
“That’s fair I guess.”  
“So,” Byron hopped up on his sister’s desk, putting his feet on her chair, “What is your story Greer Garson?”  
She paused, looked him up and down and then said deadpan, “I’m a half-vampire who can directly project my thoughts into people’s heads.”  
Byron, raised by dyed-in-the-wool goths said without hesitation, “I know exactly what you mean.”  
His sister, Diana, then walked in and the ingenue introduced herself as Renesmee Cullen, “But everyone calls me Nessie.”  
That’s when two workmen came in and removed Renesmee’s desk.  
“You don’t want that?” Diana asked.  
“I brought mine from home,” smiled Renesmee as two more workmen came in and took the bed.  
Byron and Diana watched with amused fascination as Renesmee’s side of the dorm transformed into a picture you would see on Tumblr under a picture of a mug of coffee next to an open book and scattered flowers. The amused part came from Renesmee’s apparent ignorance that any of this was strange, as if Diana was using the school’s utilitarian furnishings because she wanted to. Byron wondered if he should have nicknamed her Susan Vance from Bringing Up Baby. When the transformation was over Renesmee had a bunk bed with only the top bunk, underneath was a bookcase and a singe drawer filled with clothes that looked like they wouldn’t fit her, both in style and literal size, and first aid supplies. Next to the bed was a beautiful desk, a phonograph, and a vinyl collection. The only thing provided by the school that she seemed to be satisfied with was the tiny closet, her wardrobe evidently being expensive but small. Unlike Diana’s who couldn’t get her closet door to shut, although to be fair that was mostly the fault of her hoop skirt. On the door into the dorm Renesmee hung an ornate full-length mirror, after asking Diana for permission, as if Diana might have a problem with that. 

Berry College was a Christian school, but veteran and aspiring rebels always find a way. Renesmee, of course, got an invitation to a party almost right away, pretty girls being the party adornment of choice is one of the constants of history. Renesmee was quickly abandoned by her “date”, his having slipped in beer that he himself spilled. She was happy to sit in a corner and watch the people around her as if it were a play. Especially Byron, playing Puck, egging on drunk people and filming them. Diana sat next to Renesmee drinking a virgin strawberry daiquiri, where she got it one can only guess.  
“So, you’re basically drinking wet pink sugar?” Renesmee asked.  
Diana made a pleased hum, “It’s very relaxing.”  
“Why would you be stressed, classes haven’t even started.”  
“I’m stressed because classes haven’t started. Do my professors prefer kiss-ups or do they hate them? Should I sit in the front to hear better, or in the back to avoid spit? I wish I could just skip orientation, like I need to know everyone’s favorite color?”  
“Why don’t we skip orientation. Maybe go for a hike?” As Renesmee touched Diana’s wrist, Diana thought about chirping birds and cracking stems, cooling your feet in a river while the sun warms your neck.  
“That sounds really nice actually.”


	2. Chekov’s Classroom(s)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a bunch of metaphors

Renesmee, Diana, and Byron only shared two classes together, the Honors biology class, Phage Hunters, with Dr. Stauss, and Honors English, Gothic Horror, with Dr. Pelzmann. Both professors were new to the school just like they were.

“A bacteriophage is a type of virus, and the purpose of this course is for each of you to isolate and characterize your own unique virus,” Dr. Stauss began her lecture. “Viruses are difficult to classify. They do not have cells, but they reproduce. They do not use energy until they come into contact with a host cell. Those of three out of the list of criteria to determine whether something is alive or dead. Viruses, it seems, are both alive and dead.”  
“Now virus is a scary word, but phages are one of the most common biological entities on earth, and some even protect us. Phages can be used to fight off bacterial infection, not often in humans since the invention of antibiotics, but the food industry sometimes uses phages to ensure that food is safe to eat, and phages can be used to fight against bioweaponry. It is not unusual to use something dangerous to fight something dangerous, snake venom curing snake bites being the most commonly used example.”

“I think we’ve all seen that movie,” Dr. Pelzmann lectured, “in which someone is different, and they are supposedly comforted by the phrase, ‘People are afraid of what they don’t understand.’ But that is not entirely true is it? I can explain to you in detail how an atomic bomb is made and that wouldn’t make it less scary, probably more so. There are different kinds of fear, the gothic writers knew this and they divided fear into different categories. They described terror as the feeling of dread before an event and horror as the feeling of revulsion after an event. In other words, terror is the fear of the unknown and horror is the fear of knowing far too well. Gothic horror came out of the romantic period whose literature often dealt with a concept they called the sublime, something greater than ourselves but not quite divine. The Romantics dealt with the pleasures of coming into contact with the sublime, and the Gothics dealt with the fear. For those of you who have read the bible, you know that the angels greeted humans with the phrase, ‘Do not be afraid.’ So, when it comes to the divine and the sublime, pleasure and fear are two sides of the same coin.”  
“There are several tropes in Gothic Horror. There is often an innocent young woman with a mysterious past, and there is a hero to rescue this damsel in distress. Then there is the villain that tests the young woman’s virtue. Of course, there is also a monster. And all this is set in a castle at night. There are many different types set within those types. The young woman may be a dark-haired stoic or a blond Pollyanna. The hero is rarely as pure as the ingenue, but his darkness could be internal in the vein of a Byronic hero, or he could be doing the wrong thing for the right reasons like Robin Hood. The villain could be an evil prince, a mad scientist, or a mentor who betrays the hero and ingenue. The monster being a hero in their own right is a relatively recent phenomenon, if the monster isn’t the villain then they are an object of pity, especially if they aren’t supernatural and their monstrousness comes from deformity or insanity.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The phage hunters class is based on a class I actually took in college. Sadly I have never taken a gothic horror class.


End file.
